LIVERMORE — Selectpersons approved Tuesday night, March 12, a medical grow facility at 112 Botka Hill Road operated by Richard Tarrant.

Tarrant and his family live there, he is in the process of purchasing the property from Troy Libby.

Tarrant owns BJ’s Cannabis on Main Street in Livermore Falls, has been in the field more than seven years.

“I had a grow warehouse with a couple other caregivers in Lisbon Falls, I had to shut that one down,” he said. “I am just trying to get it moved up here. Get it closer to the house, closer to the business.”

When asked, Tarrant said the facility would be in a garage. He has licenses needed through the state.

Tarrant’s facility would be the second of five allowed in Livermore.

“We had somebody else apply but they never went through with it,” Selectperson Scott Richmond said.

Resident Cindy Young asked about ventilation.

“It will be inside,” Tarrant said. “The garage will be sealed off. No outside air will be allowed coming in. If someone has another grow five miles away it could affect our growth. Everything on site is sealed. I do have filters that will be in place and running.”

Tarrant has talked with the Planning Board, if there is still smell he will be looking into adding more filters or upgrading those he has to help keep it down and in control.

“The plan now is to seal it off, have internal filtration,” Planning Board Chairman Travis Tardif said. If there are complaints, the control officer has a Plan B, he noted.

Abutter Scott Greenleaf asked about wells in the area and how waste would be handled.

Some materials are reused, everything else is taken to a locked dumpster at the store in Livermore Falls Tarrant stated. It isn’t dumped anywhere, he said. Tarrant and others will use the soil.

Greenleaf asked what it would do to property valuations if there were smells.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Selectperson Brett Deyling said. He spoke of Thayer Corp., a fairly large operation in Auburn that uses a filtration system. “I don’t think anyone outside of the parking lot can smell it,” he noted.

Deyling said there is a backup plan, if there were still issues they could be worked out with the owner.

Chair Mark Chretien noted the application has to be renewed annually, it could be denied if issues aren’t fixed.

“The one at Church Street rarely smells,” he said. “There are no complaints down there.”

Also at the meeting, Matthew Ackley shared information about the boatyard he and his wife Amanda are proposing at 1515 Federal Road. They have a full service boatyard business in Auburn, have been there eight years and just purchased the Livermore property.

“We are in the process of renovating the property, it was pretty nasty, there is still a lot to do,” he said. A fence will be installed to have a secure boatyard, he noted.

Ackley said he had been a marine dealer, is no longer.

Building a new shop is planned but not in the near future, Ackley said.

The Ackleys bought a house in Livermore Falls last year, don’t know the area yet. He wasn’t sure what the fence where the boatyard is proposed was like before.

“I run a very professional boatyard,” Ackley said. “That business has not been.”

Tardif said the area flooded, a new location for a fence to screen the property is being looked at.

Access to the boatyard will be from Route 4/Federal Road, Ackley stated.

Ackleys’ application now goes to the Planning Board for approval, Richmond stated.

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